The Passage Project #1

*Please scroll down for English. ALEX: Alexander McQueen及其他 2010年11月17日至12月31日 VIP酒会：2010年11月20日，晚6-8点

上海James Cohan画廊荣幸地带来展览《Alex: Alexander McQueen及其他》，展期自2010年11月17日至12月31日。作为画廊“走廊计划”的开幕展，《Alex》是一场对已故英国设计师Alexander McQueen（1969-2010）的缅怀与致敬。由画廊副总监许宇策划，本次展览汇集了陈维、程然、郭鸿蔚、胡晓媛、梁远苇、仇晓飞六位青年艺术家以Alexander McQueen为主线特邀创作的新作。

深受一篇McQueen悼文的触动──文中作者写道：“当我对未来绝望的时候，只能选择隔空对着不列颠岛上，已经沉沉睡去的McQueen喊一声：醒来！死人。”[1]──本次展览的动因是在纪念这位英年早逝的设计师的创作才华之外，重新勾勒一个存于每个年轻创作个体内心的“青年艺术家”的形象。Alexander McQueen，同诸多青年文化领域的先行者一样，发出了强烈、个性鲜明、富有创造力的声音。当这座昔日灯塔的悄然灭去，而后来者方站上这寸青年文化的舞台，他们回眸昨日的领跑者，眺望未来时，需要重访个人创作的来途。Alex这个名字，在展览里既是指Alexander McQueen，抑或是一个虚构的创作者的自画像。

但《Alex》的开篇是斯人的肖像及其设计里反复出现的“骷髅”图式。仇晓飞的《肖像#1》创作于2009年McQueen的秋冬发布之时，《肖像#2》却作于半年后设计师自缢的消息传出之际。前者淡化了设计师的面容特征，但由拼贴强调的双眸捕捉了设计师迷雾般不确定的状态，后者呈现了静谧、遥想的故人肖像。而仇晓飞的水彩《无题》则以简洁流畅、超现实的笔触勾画了一扇携双腿行走的窗户，在个体、内心与性之间划上了模糊的边界，延续了其近期创作里对心理分析式的图像探索。McQueen设计里洋溢着黑暗的美学，其偏好的意象“骷髅”在郭鸿蔚的作品里被大量的上光油反复描摹，从而带上了冷峻的光晕，连接着死亡的忧伤、遥远和美丽与信念。他的水彩《阴影》记录了现代中国历史上早逝的青年才俊，他们的黑白肖像层层叠叠，欲言还休，又彼此默契。

青年艺术家的肖像，既是展览对McQueen的致敬，也参展艺术家们的自我检索。陈维的肖像摄影里的主人公面目不清，剧情是怪诞虚构，却又与今天中国青年艺术家的日常现实不无雷同──一位少年正襟危坐于僻陋的舞台布景，面容被一枚强光抹去；另一个则笼罩于满屋disco光芒中，躺倒在碎玻璃丛，而头与硕大的disco球融于一体，难以辨识……这种浪漫主义的基调又存在于程然的短片之中。这部以曼•雷1930年的摄影名作《眼泪》为灵感的作品在海浪与音乐交替互嬉间捕捉了一个立于海滩乱石间的赤身少年，由远及近展现了一个沉默的面庞，挂着类似曼•雷镜头下的玻璃泪珠。

胡晓媛的《木》在不断细致入微地描绘木纹肌理的劳作里，考量表象和本质之间的差异与殊离的关系，由此进入了一个内窥之旅。以McQueen2010年春夏女装设计为灵感，梁远苇的绘画在微妙繁复的光晕色彩变化里由厚油料笔触铺出抽象花纹，既是对这位设计师一生的遥望，亦捕捉了两者间的心心相映，如引自奥斯卡•王尔德的作品标题所言：“我们都身陷世俗红尘，但是总有人仰望着星空”。

更多信息，请联系：许宇Lxu@jamescohan.com或 +86- 21-54660825 x 602。 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] 林剑，《醒来！死人》，《周末画报》，2010年3月6日，585期

ALEX: A TRIBUTE TO ALEXANDER McQUEEN November 17 through December 31, 2010 Reception for the Artists: November 20, 2010, 6-8pm

James Cohan Gallery Shanghai is pleased to present Alex: A Tribute to Alexander McQueen from November 17 through December 31, 2010. This inaugural exhibition series, The Passage Project, curated by the gallery’s Associate Director Leo Xu, is a tribute to the late British designer Alexander McQueen (1969 - 2010), whose tragic suicide shook the international world of fashion and design. The exhibition features commissioned works by six young Chinese artists: Chen Wei, Cheng Ran, Guo Hongwei, Hu Xiaoyuan, Liang Yuanwei, and Qiu Xiaofei.

In a widely noted essay by renowned Shanghai fashion critic Ian Lin, in memory to the designer, Lin’s elegiac message is clear, “When I feel desperate about the future, I would look out over the British Isles, calling McQueen from deep sleep: ‘Wake up, dead man!” The exhibition is a celebration of McQueen’s legacy, showcasing his talent and pervasive influence, and the empathy young artists feel towards the designer’s spirit and creativity.

Alex starts with portraitures and reproductions of McQueen’s haunting signature skull motifs. Qiu Xiaofei’s Portrait # 2, following his Portrait #1, was made on the occasion of McQueen’s launch for the F/W collection in 2009. Tranquil and emotionally remote, Portrait # 2 portrays the designer in limbo, capturing a vague face and disconcerting look. While these portraits seemingly unveil the designer’s state of mind, addressing the tragedy of this young talent, Untitled is a simple yet surrealistic watercolor leading to a subconscious door, a reexhibitions theme in Qiu Xiaofei’s psychoanalytic explorations on canvas. Iconic imagery in McQueen’s designs epitomizes his dark aesthetics. In Guo Hongwei’s works the skull—a classic symbol of mortality and change in vanitas paintings dating back to 17th century Dutch artists—is depicted with excessive oil and varnish, rendering a cold aura and sentimental link connecting death with beauty and belief. In Guo’s watercolor, Shade, composed of various black-and-white portraits overlapping one another, embraces other figures in modern China of young talents whose lives were cut short in their prime.

Alexander McQueen was also a visual artist on the fashion catwalk in his own right and the exhibition may also be read as A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, referring to the semi-autobiographic classic by James Joyce. In exploring McQueen’s story, Chen Wei produced two staged photographs, intimating one’s struggle from within. One photograph portrays a young man seated in a dilapidated stage set, whose unidentifiable face is hit by a single spotlight, while the other photograph depicts a figure lying on a mattress covered in broken glass, his head concealed by a mirrored ball in a room lit by glittering disco light. Similar tones of romanticism are also evident in Cheng Ran’s video. Through alternating music and the repetitive sound of gentle waves lapping the shore, the video begins with a long shot observing a scantily clad boy standing statue-like on a rock and winds up with a close-up of the boy’s face dotted with fake pearls reminiscent of the melancholy teardrops in Man Ray’s widely known photograph of 1930, Tears.

Hu Xiaoyuan’s meticulously painted object, Wood, narrows the focus as a meditative and methodical gesture by tracing repeatedly the textures and grain of wood panels as if the whole process provides a way of soul-searching through artifice. Liang Yuanwei’s abstract flora painting with their thickly imexhibitionso surfaces are mesmerizing and emotionally charged. These specific paintings are a tribute to McQueen’s 2010 S/S collection. The title of these works, taken from a quote by Oscar Wilde, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars” shares Liang Yuanwei’s stance she finds in common with the uncompromising designer.

For further information, please contact Leo Xu Lxu@jamescohan.comor +86-21-54660825 x 602.